People turned out for the first National Night Out (NNO) hosted at the Poplar Bluff Head Start on Tuesday night.
The event was geared toward supporting relationships between the community and members of law enforcement. Along that thread, the event was hosted by the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority, but some of the sponsors included Poplar Bluff Police Department, Poplar Bluff Fire Department, Southeast Missouri Search and Rescue and the Butler County Fire Department.
Mark Hensen, vice chair of the Housing Authority board, said the event served two purposes: give the people living in the housing authority units the chance to get to know emergency personnel outside of an emergency situation and combat the idea that police officers can’t be trusted.
Those ideas were echoed by Chief Deputy Wesley Popp with the sheriff’s office. He said without relationships in the community or confidence from the community in the force, there’s not much the department can do.
“The only people that have issues with us are the ones breaking into people’s houses or cars,” he said.
Two of the other bonuses, Hensen said, is that NNO gave tenants the chance to meet the board and see they’re willing to listen to issues, and for tenants to meet each other.
“Most of them don’t know each other,” he said. “Now they might at least say hi when passing each other on the sidewalk.”
Darrin Taylor is the new executive director of the housing authority, having started back in April. While Hensen said the event was mostly Taylor’s idea, Taylor said it was more of a full staff effort.
NNO is a national program, he said, that happens on the second Tuesday of August around the country, to connect first responders with the community.
Taylor said he’s happy with the turnout and how the event went, especially since it’s the first one — although it did get rained out about two hours in.
Resident Jessica Catman said she thought the event was a great idea and a good way to help connect people and get information out about the services that are available.
“It gives the kids something to do,” she said.
Along those lines, the event included several activities such as a bike parade and watermelon eating contest for the kids. However, the emergency personnel in attendance also helped provide activities.
The Poplar Bluff and Butler County fire departments had out the Fire Safety House, which is an interactive experience for kids to learn about fire risks to look out for in their homes and what to do if the fire alarm goes off while they’re home.
Cpl. Derek House with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office let kids go into a squad car to see what the different buttons do and try them out.
Different officers and Rep. Jeff Shawan took turns in the dunk tank where kids could throw balls to dunk them.
Taylor said he would like to see the event happen again and more often because of the relationships it can help form between the community, emergency personnel and the housing authority. He said it gave him the chance to talk to residents and pose a question he wants to hear their answers to.
“How can we do a better job of helping people?” he said.